Zeiss 25/2.8 M Lens test at 400 lp/mm !!

Medium Format crispness eith 35mm depth of field

Medium Format crispness eith 35mm depth of field

I've hardly pushed this lens to ultimate resolution, but I have to say I love this 25mm/2.8 ZM lens. It and the 21mm/2.8 ZM have very similar fingerprints, sharp at the plane of focus, little loss of resolution or contrast toward the corners, and fine Gaussian blurred out-of-focus areas. I print my own color enlargements, 6x9" (on 8x10" paper) and 8.75x13" (on 11x14" paper), and have been struck by the resemblance of pictures made with these two Biogons to Medium Format negatives from my Bronica 645's 45mm lens. With fine grained films (like Fuji Pro160C), you can achieve stunning crispness with great depth of field. The negatives have high resolution but also very smooth gradation. Bravo Zeiss!
 
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Didn't Joe go for that lens?? If yes, good, since I chipped a little something in for one of his 35 :cool: (well it may have covered the shipping :D )
 
Me too, on your 35. He'd better hurry up, have some 3200in my R and I'm at JFK-Airport on thursday for some time.
 
back alley said:
2 other lenses arrived at the buyer's homes today.
you could be next!!
joe
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that sounds like you want to sell lottery tickets. but i'm confident it will be here tomorrow or on thursday. my bad shipping experiences are limited, so need for me to be pesimistic ;) (knock on wood)
 
What scanner is capable of doing such a job? ... or are you going to put your slides under a microscope? :D
 
CameraQuest said:
Zeiss reports test results of 400 lp/mm with the ZM 25/2.8 --
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Call me stupid but I'm not sure I can fully appreciate the benefits of such a high optical resolution when it comes to producing interesting photographs... I'm not sure exactly what 25mm lens Josef Koudelka used for his Gypsies project but he certainly didn't need 400 lp/mm.

Just to put things into perspective... ;)

Vincent
 
sdai said:
What scanner is capable of doing such a job? ... or are you going to put your slides under a microscope? :D
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Better yet, what pair of naked human eyes is capable of such discrimination. I think that the limit is 10 lp/mm! Maybe grain sniffers with a loupe can do better. :D
 
vincentbenoit said:
I'm not sure exactly what 25mm lens Josef Koudelka used for his Gypsies project but he certainly didn't need 400 lp/mm.
Vincent
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Certainlly not, no. Especially because I suppose Koudelkas films have made around 100lp/m, optimistically 120.

But that's not the point. This test result is the theoretical answer of the Zeiss marketing to the theoretical E.P. results. And I don't dare to think now about what kinda weak minded Leica vs Zeiss crap will fill the forums soon. Duck and run, shitstorm coming ! :D

Regards,
Bertram
BTW:
When it comes to enlargements larger than 30X40 cm you can make such a performance clearly differentiable, provided the right film was used.
 
Bertram2 said:
Certainlly not, no. Especially because I suppose Koudelkas films have made around 100lp/m, optimistically 120.

But that's not the point. This test result is the theoretical answer of the Zeiss marketing to the theoretical E.P. results. And I don't dare to think now about what kinda weak minded Leica vs Zeiss crap will fill the forums soon. Duck and run, shitstorm coming ! :D

Regards,
Bertram
BTW:
When it comes to enlargements larger than 30X40 cm you can make such a performance clearly differentiable, provided the right film was used.
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you seem to have such a low opinion of most of us here.
i'm curious as to the reason you bother visiting this forum.
is it merely entertainment for you? i am serious in the asking.
joe
 
Saw the nod to Koudelka and am wondering if anyone here knows which camera he using for his more recent panoramic work, i.e. Chaos, which is brilliant. While he can certainly afford the Linhof, I imagine him using something a bit less intrusive..

As a side note, I believe A Gallery for Fine Photography, in the French Quarter, still has a few original prints from the Gypsy series. That gallery is a MUST for anyone going to NOLA. Just make sure to leave your wallet.

And Joe, please let us know what the pros and cons are between the 35 and 25. (Translation: my 50/2 ZM is getting lonely and I feel I need to aquire more debt.)

-grant
 
once the 25 arrives, i vow to use only it and the 35 on the zi for an extended period.
everything else is going into storage.

i wnt to 'know' this camera and the lenses well enough not to have to think about using any one peice.

grant, if we lived closer we could trade lenses on the weekends...
 
I got my 25/2.8 last Sunday and am going through my first roll of B&W film. Lovely lens on the handling. My question is *WHY 25*? Why does Zeiss decide to optimize this particular lens? Not the 28, not the 35 but 25. This particular focal length is not mentioned anywhere very often. Most of the time people would recommend 35, 28 or 21 to someone else, but seldom a 25/24. Why not optimize 28 or 35? Though I appreiciate the fact that it goes to 400 lpm, I do not think that will be the deciding factor for the scenes I shoot, not to mention that ISO 400 BW film isn't known for resolution.
 
leafy,
Personally, I'm interested in the 25 for the purposes of shooting dramatic portraiture and architecture. In color. The 28 would be good for this as well, but I have yet to see images from the 28 that has the same kind of color gradation as the 25. The 28 is close, as it from the same family, but the 25 is the better of the two from what I can tell. 400 lpm means nothing to me beyond a measurement of craftsmanship. Hopefully Zeiss will build up a larger gallery from each of their lenses, but of the two images in the brochure, the 25 looks to have a better, more fluid, range. Of course, that could be an issue of the physical printing and the paper as well. Hence the need for Zeiss to build a stronger gallery. If you have the brochure, look at the gradation from dark to light in the sky from the images taken with the 25 and 28. The 28 breaks up a bit as the blue gets lighter, whereas the 25 seems to hold a steady curve. At least, that's what I see.

-grant
 
"you seem to have such a low opinion of most of us here. i'm curious as to the reason you bother visiting this forum. is it merely entertainment for you? i am serious in the asking.
joe"

I read this as forums in general more so those like photonet which such debates do to get out of hand. I didnt read this as an insult to ths forum at all more so what does go down in others.
 
Palaeoboy said:
"you seem to have such a low opinion of most of us here. i'm curious as to the reason you bother visiting this forum. is it merely entertainment for you? i am serious in the asking.
joe"

I read this as forums in general more so those like photonet which such debates do to get out of hand. I didnt read this as an insult to ths forum at all more so what does go down in others.
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I concur. :)
 
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